Hartford will add 8,000 jobs over the next four quarters, and the regions unemployment rate should shrink to about 8 percent by early 2012, according to an economic forecast released Monday.
The Connecticut Economy outlook produced by economists at the University of Connecticut,  shed a tempered view on the state’s recovery, saying the economy’s mixed performance overall  “makes clear that there are still sigÂnificant drags on the current recovery.”
“Continuing distress in the housing market is a major impediment to a robust recovery,” the report said. “Though consumers are repairing the liability side of their balÂance sheets, on the asset side housing prices are still declining, especially for median and lower income households. That could put a crimp in consumer spending, which could eventually ‘pull the plug’ on the struggling recovery.
In other predictions, UConn economists said home prices in Hartford, which registered a modest $1,000 gain between the fourth quarter of 2010 and the first quarter of this year, will likely decline in the fourth quarter 2011, and housing permits will likely continue to shrink modestly in the coming quarters.
Meanwhile, Department of Labor encomiast Daniel Kennedy said Connecticut will likely add 14,000 jobs between the fourth quarÂters of 2010 and 2011, and another 12,000 in the next four quarters, or 26,000 jobs in all.
